Chapter 57: The Root of the Problem

Indeed.

Villac had previously overlooked this most crucial point. Some things cannot be accomplished by a single person; only when everyone enters the arena can everyone make money together.

There was still so much for him to learn, and the most important thing was to broaden his horizons. This was the biggest difference between him and those who grew up in the big city.

Manners, etiquette, and dressing were things he could master in a very short time, but vision and life experience could not be grasped quickly and easily. They demanded too much. Fortunately, all the conditions were now in place, and Villac would not miss this opportunity.

He would learn from this man who was destined to be a mortal enemy, and then defeat him in this "war" destined to come to no good end.

After leaving the stadium and getting into the car, Carmine dropped Villac off in front of the mansion and drove away to attend to other matters.

Villac purposely stood at the entrance, watching the car drive away until it vanished from sight. Without rushing back inside, he seized the opportunity to approach Daniel. "How is it?"

"Mr. Chris!" Daniel had been waiting for Villac in the car parked at the entrance since the early hours of the morning. Now that he had finally arrived, the drowsy Daniel instantly woke up and pulled out a notebook. "Inside are the details you asked Comrade Chloe to investigate regarding the rival companies and forces of the Thomas family."

"Good." Villac glanced around to make sure no one was watching and took the notebook. "How is everyone doing now?"

"They have all become more low-profile according to your instructions and suspended relevant activities in Leizerin," Daniel replied. "Also, Comrade Boine and Comrade Chloe asked me to find out what exactly has happened."

Naturally, Villac could not tell them that Elizabeth had recognized him, so he fabricated a reason on the spot: "Through certain channels, my father learned that the government will step up its suppression of us recently. Fearing that I might do something out of line if I went out, he placed me under house arrest again. I can only have you notify everyone to be careful and stay safe."

"Understood. I'll go report the situation to them right away." Realizing the gravity of the problem, Daniel prepared to leave immediately.

"Good." Villac estimated the time he would need to digest the information. "Tomorrow, you continue to wait for me all day. I could come out to pass on intelligence at any time. If I don't have the chance to leave tomorrow, then the day after, or the day after that."

"I will, Mr. Chris. I'll await your news at any time." Daniel nodded solemnly.

Villac patted Daniel on the shoulder. "All right, you should go. I'm heading back inside. Remember to be careful on the way."

"Understood, Mr. Chris. Then I'll be leaving."

"Mm."

Watching Daniel leave, Villac returned to the mansion, greeted Fletcher—who was busy arranging tasks for the servants in the hall—and went back to his bedroom.

Fletcher still seemed to have matters to attend to, and Villac was not worried about anyone suddenly walking in. He first opened the documents Chloe had investigated.

First, business competitors were mainly concentrated in companies engaged in the production and sale of phonographs. Ranking first was the Paramount Phonograph Company, which held over twenty percent of the domestic market share, followed by three other companies that together accounted for nearly ten percent of the market.

The Thomas Phonograph Company and these four firms jointly carved up more than ninety-nine percent of the phonograph market in the Republic of Bresia.

However, the Thomas family was not engaged in this business alone. Beyond that, they owned the country's most mature and sophisticated top record label, while also investing in more than ten other industries with wide spans, such as the football club he had visited just today.

Chloe had also listed competing companies in these sectors.

However, the most significant part of the notebook was not these companies, but rather the enemies among the high-ranking officials and nobles who had financial dealings with the Thomas family. Clearly, when conducting the investigation, Chloe had made full use of the ledger Villac had provided.

Compared to those high-ranking political enemies, these companies holding far less market share than the Thomas family seemed somewhat insignificant.

Yet Villac had never considered making a deal with the enemies of Carmine's umbrella figures; those people held excessively high status, every single one of them being a major player capable of stirring up storms in Leizerin, and each harbored their own hidden agendas. Villac lacked the confidence to deal successfully with such people, knowing that the slightest misstep would drag him down into their games as well.

His considerations were strictly limited to companies competing commercially with the Thomas family, though conditions still applied.

If it were a tiny company, even if he handed them intelligence capable of toppling the Thomas family, they probably wouldn't even match his own capabilities—let alone inflict damage on the Thomas family. Preventing themselves from being swallowed up or silenced would already be a stroke of luck.

After a round of comparisons, the most suitable trading partner was Paramount, a company in the phonograph industry that trailed only the Thomas family yet could still be called a giant.

To maintain a steady momentum of growth in performance year after year under the suppression of the Thomas family, they certainly had extraordinary strengths.

Moreover, judging by their financial strength, coughing up a million in kincs would not be a difficult task. Furthermore, anyone with foresight and the ability to utilize the data would never consider spending a million kincs to buy the intelligence in Villac's hands a losing proposition.

Having decided on the candidate, Villac planned to meet Daniel again tomorrow to have him instruct Chloe to conduct a more detailed investigation into Paramount—detailed enough to list the profiles of every key figure within it.

He needed a thorough understanding of Paramount before formulating a corresponding approach.

Dealing with such shrewd operators required the utmost caution. This was a face-to-face confrontation, and also the most crucial sum of money Villac needed to earn. If anything went wrong with this endeavor, he would miss out on the million kincs that would make anyone drool with greed. Once things reached that point, leaving Leizerin would become unavoidable.

Therefore, no matter what, he had to make the most foolproof preparations and secure this transaction!

After spending an hour finalizing the cooperation target, Villac closed the notebook and placed it where the archives were kept. Just as he put it away, the copy of *On Equality* resting at the very top caught his eye once again. While putting the notebook away, he ended up taking *On Equality* out instead.

This time, Villac did not take it out with the wishful thinking of attempting to continue writing it.

He thought of the resolve he had made yesterday.

He wanted to do something for the Equality Society. Reviewing what he could currently do, it seemed the only option was to pass on this unfinished *On Equality*. Even if the answers were yet unwritten, the book's earlier exposition on equality and inequality was sufficient to awaken the consciousness of the lower classes.

Above all, if Villac simply kept this book to himself, the answers might remain missing forever.

If he truly wished to find the answers, he had to let more people see where the problems lay.